LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan has said the party may opt for an aggressive agitation in the next phase, if its ongoing peaceful protest failed to make Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif present himself for accountability.

“If Nawaz Sharif will not be punished, Pakistan will be ruined because of lost credibility of state institutions,” he told journalists at a local club on Tuesday.

Mr Khan said the PTI was staging peaceful protest demonstrations to push the corrupt rulers to present themselves for accountability because massive corruption had been proved against them.

Stating he was mobilising people for participation in peaceful Sept 30 march on Raiwind, he warned the PTI could opt for aggressive agitation in the next phase that was part of democracy.

Warning the Punjab government and its “Gullus” against resorting to violence, the PTI chairman said the ruling PML-N had so far been using violent tactics against the party’s peaceful rallies in Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Jehlum and Islamabad.

“Enough is enough”, he said and added that the PTI would this time respond very sharply and forcefully.

To a question, Mr Khan said the party had yet not discussed alliance with any other political party or parties for the next general elections. “I can’t say anything on this subject right now,” he said and added that all opposition parties were on the same page in the parliament on the issue of framing Terms of Reference (ToR) to hold those accountable whose names had appeared in Panamagate.

He said the PTI was participating in the parliamentary committee to reform electoral process, which had so far been discredited.

Regarding the PTI’s defeat in by-elections and local polls, Mr Khan said these elections did not reflect mass following of the winners but the government pressure. He regretted that the government functionaries, including superintendents of police, had been found asking people to vote for the ruling party candidates. Still, he said, the PTI was giving tough time to the ruling PML-N in all elections.

In Punjab, he said, the ruling PML-N had even lodged FIRs against him and his top party leader, what to say of workers. On the other hand, he asserted that the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had not got registered even a single FIR against its political opponents.

He said KP was progressing leaps and bounds in all sectors, particularly with regard to social services and facilitating masses at their doorstep, but the PTI did not have hefty budget to flash its successes through massive media campaigns like the federal and Punjab governments.

About differences within his party, Mr Khan said such things did happen in big democratic political parties where people struggle for positions. Rejecting allegations of giving important party positions to wealthy people, he said the positions were offered to workers who had done something good in the past, had administrative and managerial experience and potential to do good for the party.

“When I will be prime minister, I can’t offer ministries on the pretext that such and such worker is an old guard. This type of thinking and administration will ruin the country,” he asserted.

Answering a question about atrocities being committed against Kashmiris by the Indian forces, Mr Khan said occupied Kashmir was now going out of India’s hands as Kashmiris were being persecuted only for demanding freedom.

Chiding Indian media for jingoism, he said as the world started exerting pressure on India in the wake of atrocities, the country started blaming Pakistan for Uri attack.

PTI general secretary Jahangir Tareen, information secretary Naeemul Haq, Abdul Aleem Khan, Ijaz Chaudhry, Waleed Iqbal, Samsam Bukhari and others were also present.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2016